March 12, 2009 - In Search of my Buried Creativity

Just a few thoughts as the day begins.

I started to put on my Zapatista earrings,, but had second thoughts. They may be offensive in this part of Mexico. I realized that I had not seen any indigenous people in traditional dress since I arrived. Thinking back, I cannot recall being anywhere in Mexico where the indigenous were not highly represented. I will ask Miguel about this in class today. My first clue that there might be a strong prejudice was from the young woman who sat next to me on the plane. I had told her that I liked viisiting the state of Chiapas and she replied with a negative response about the people.

Another observation is that there are very few North American (Opps, big mistake...Mexico is North America - I meant no US citizens norCanadian) or European tourists. The town is bustling with tourists.....but, they are Mexican or from other Latin American countries.

More later.....time now for breakfast.

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Classtime passed quickly with two hours of conversation in spanish. No great revelations today but, time well spent.

Ceramics Workshop. I got right to work on my #7 address tile. I thought that I had done a beautiful job.Then along comes Sylvie. There were no "mal" or "feo" descriptions today.....she just scraped and sanded off the design that I had just painted on the tile and told me to do it over with her design for the flowers. I admit that my flowers were not perfect....and that is fine with me. You dont often see perfect flowers. Perhaps she is treating me as a trainee that would work for her.

Sylvie then hands me a cup and saucer and tells me to paint them. I sit there staring at them, thinking that whatever I do will be wrong. I go blank.....not an ounce of creativity. I have not a clue of how to decorate the cup. There are no stencils or copies of designs available. I take responsibility for that problem, I should have made up some designs in advance. Tonight, I will go study ceramics in shop windows and galleries., take photos and make up a copy to bring with me. At the last minute, a design came to mind and I successfully (so I think) penciled it on to the cup and proceeded to paint.

Creativity takes time. I need to slow down my pace and let any creativity that may be there come to the surface.

Dinner at Nahual - Broiled shrimp over Pesto Fetticcini (sp?).